Exhaust systems are responsible for a significant loss of energy from industrial and commercial production facilities such as manufacturing facilities, commercial kitchens, laboratories, etc. One of the losses caused by exhaust systems is a result of the withdrawal of significant amounts of conditioned air from the space where contaminants are being produced, which conditioned air must be replaced by conditioning replacement air. Another loss is the energy required to operated exhaust system itself.
As a result of the recognition of a need to minimize the loss of conditioned air through exhaust systems, various technologies have been proposed. One technique is to minimize the volume of conditioned air that is withdrawn. Some exhaust systems operated under pure potential (also known as laminar) flow conditions such as the hoods used in laboratories. By maintaining potential flow conditions, which inherently requires the use of low velocities, mixing of contaminants with is kept to a minimum. The exhaust system can therefore be very selective.
Another approach that has been applied to reduce the quantity of conditioned air lost through exhaust systems is to try to minimize the total flow based on the conditions. For example, real-time control has been described for commercial kitchens. Examples are U.S. Pat. No. 7,048,199 for “Kitchen exhaust optimal temperature span system and method” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,480 for “Commercial kitchen exhaust system.”
Another approach that has been applied to reduce the quantity of conditioned air lost through exhaust systems is so-called short circuit systems in which make-up air is discharged into the conditioned space close to, or adjacent to, the exhaust hood. The supposed effect of this is to reduce the total volume of conditioned air that must be exhausted while preventing the escape of pollutants into the conditioned occupied space. Examples of such systems are provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,645 for “Self-contained exhaust hood with heat exchanger and method of exhausting air,” U.S. Pat. No. 6,347,626 for “Ventilation system for a kitchen,” U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,316 for “Air ventilation system.” and U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,316 for “Air ventilation system.” These systems, however, because the movement of air is inherently turbulent below the hood and around it, vigorous mixing occurs and hoods. As a result, contaminants enter the conditioned air, often more vigorously because of the turbulence generated by the make-up air discharge, and thus, the exhaust hoods are largely required to exhaust as much conditioned air as in systems where make-up air is introduced remote from the hood.
In addition to the loss of conditioned air, and the concomitant need to replace the exhausted air by conditioning replacement air, exhaust system may inherently lose energy or materials that would have commercial value if they could be recovered and used. Because of the dilution of the exhaust stream with conditioned air from the hood environment, however, the concentrations and temperatures are such that energy or material recovery is made difficult. In addition, fouling caused by effluent streams is a performance and maintenance problem for energy recovery systems. For example, heat transfer coefficients of surfaces drop quickly as a result of fouling.
Another issue in the design of exhaust systems is the typical permanence of the configuration once exhaust and utility connections are laid out and installed in a structure. Often it may be desirable to reconfigure a facility such as a commercial kitchen, upgrade appliances and fixtures, or simply relocate equipment. Short circuit exhaust systems offer greater flexibility than those which are connected to outside vents, but utility connections can still pose problems and sometimes short circuit operation is undesirable or impractical in certain facilities.